Not As Expected

Tomoya nodded slightly. "Vargus was stronger than Xavier, he just had no way to put him down permanently because he has this... just, insane healing factor. He could regenerate from being reduced to ash if need be, and Vargus was unable to totally destroy his body. As for Ariana... no, I don't have any pictures. Even if I did, I don't have any from her childhood, and that's when we need to find her. I can't let her go through that again... I can't..."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Samantha gently patted him on the shoulder. "We'll find her. We still have Tanarin and if anyone would know where to find her, it would be her. I'll have to ask when we see her again, she's around Levante and Garnet more ever since those two started dating."

She got up from the bed. "For now, we'll take a shower so we aren't smelling like sex. But you can join me if you want." She was of course teasing, Tomoya would naturally be more then happy too.

* *

In the Kronos household, Gareth was cooking breakfast not just for himself, Tomoya and Samantha but other guest. That was to say mainly Levante had come over a bit earlier, but he wasn't sure if Garnet was stopping by but if Levante was there was no telling when any of the others would show.

The Nosferatu was sitting there, he was quite this morning and seemed to be thinking but Gareth wasn't sure what it was about.

When Tomoya eventually came down stairs, having indeed joined Samantha in the shower, he was immensely happy... for obvious reasons. He did expect teasing of some sort, considering who they knew, but he didn't care. He wished a good morning to Gareth and Levante, before sitting down to wait for Samantha.

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

"Morning." Gareth said while Levante greeted them as well. Surprisingly, he didn't tease them nor Levante.

She went to have a seat at the table. "Do you know where Tanarin is? I would like to talk to her about something?"

Levante shook his head. "Tanarin is a busy woman. When she's not with us she's out doing other things. Though she might be with Garnet, I'm not sure where exactly she is now. I take it you two slept..rather well." Maybe a little teasing.

Tomoya nodded at that. not even phased. "Yes, we slept well, Levante. THanks for asking, by the way. Very nice of you. Pleasant too, as I sometimes worry you might have gone senile in your old age and would forget about us." A subtle warning that if Levante wanted to tease, Tomoya would give it right back.

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Tomoya smirked a bit. "We'll see, old man. Speaking of Tanarin though, I never said 'congratulations' on you two getting together. I actually never met her or any of the other Seraph's in my home realm, but I did hear of them, and Tanarin always seemed like a good person. Knowing she's really like that and that she can make you happy... it's nice."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Tomoya nodded slightly at that... then paused. "Actually, there is something I'd like to ask. Can you find out everything you can about some clan of vampires that call themselves 'True Vampires'? They apparently all live in a single large village, hidden by same magival barrier, so nobody can find them. One of them named 'Karia' runs around kidnapping children, who are never seen again. I want to stop them within the next five years, before..." Again, Tomoya got this strange, slightly haunted look in his eyes.

In his home realm, what had happened to Ariana had greatly bothered him, to be sure, and Karin had admitted that the only reason she'd been there to save Ariana a bit before turning seventeen, was due to pure chance. That chance may not occur this time, and he refused to let this realms Ariana go through the same things that his had gone through, and certainly not what other version's had.

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Levante frowned at bit at this. "..Tanarin actually mentioned something earlier about them when I first ran into her again. She mentioned how some of the other angels she sent never reported back, so I'm of the opinion they had to have something to do with that. Shuzen had apparently also wanted to 'show them their place' as well." "So nothing concrete?" Gareth asked him.

"Unfortunately, for now no. If Tanarin or anyone else in her circle does find something I'll know and tell you." Levante was going to ask what he wanted to find them for, there seemed to be a more personal stake in there. That and he could feel Tomoya's emotions.

Samantha placed a hand on his shoulder briefly. "..Before? What exactly happens to Ariana, Tomoya?"

At this, Tomoya winced heavily. "...Well... there are many versions of different people in different realms... you already know that. THeir lives are often similar, but sometimes alot different, just because of how the realm is, or different choices made. But... Ariana... rarely does her childhood change. In all realms, she's an orphan from a young age... since she was a baby. Raised by a homeless man for awhile, until he dies, and she survives on her own... until she's five. Then, a man tries to rape her, only to be stopped. In one realm that I know of, it's actually Garnet that rescues her; in a realm where you are long dead, Levante, and she's been living on her own." He paused, swallowing hard.

"In most realms, she's saved by the vampire named Karia. According to Ariana... he offered her a home. Friends. A loving family. So she went with him. To that hidden village." Again, he went silent, taking a slow, deep breath. "They mocked her. Insulted her. Beat her. Stripped her naked and dragged her through the streets in chains, while people threw insults and rocks at her. She was treated like trash for eleven years, in my realm... then Karin, by chance, happened to stumble across the village. She saved Ariana, and she ends up adopted into the family... but... that only happened in a few realms. Every other realm... every other, she..." He grit his teeth, but forced himself to continue.

"When she turned seventeen... rape was added to their ways of tormenting her. I saw a version of Ariana that went through this... it was a window to another realm... she was... she was crying, and cowering in fear... from me, because I'd startled her. And she was talking to you, Samantha... you tried to comfort her, and she... she told you everything. How she could still feel it all... still... taste them... and how everytime she got pregnant, they would kill the unborn baby... and this went on almost every day... for four years..." He licked his lips, looking visibly ill, then finished.

"She was rescued by a vampire hunter named Tarek.... he's dead already in this realm... he took her home, taught her to fight... took care of her... and she fell in love with him... but he was devoted to his wife, who had a disease that made her lose her mind... and she killed him, taking the one good thing in Ariana's life..." He covered his face, shaking a bit and trying to stem the flow of tears. "I... I can't let her go through that again. Any of it.... I can't let it happen..."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Levante was..pissed. Not that would of been a understatement. He wanted to find each and every one of those vampires and literally strangle to death with their lungs. He reigned in his anger however, there was nothing to focus it on at the moment and he couldn't find said vampires. Gareth was more or less of the same mind.

Samantha was appalled, she hugged Tomoya a bit pulling away wiping her eyes. "I don't know how, but I promise we'll find her before anything like that can happen to her." She knew words meant little, actions did but she was determined more then before after hearing that.

Tomoya nodded slowly. "Judging by the timeline of this realm, Ariana will be born within a few months. I have no idea what city she lives in before Karia gets to her. But we'll have five years to find her. After that, it'll be more difficult, because that village is damn near impossible to find. If it comes to that, we'll have twelve years. Up until then we can save her from the worst of it all. Either way, I want to do whatever we have to to save her from that. When she lets her guard down, she shows just a bit of what she might have been like, if given the chance... I want her to have that chance."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

"Then we just have to focus more of our resources and time finding her." Levante said, already thinking of things. "How did Karin find the village if it was so hard to find? And she didn't mention where it was? She did stumble on it by chance, but perhaps she remembered something?"

Tomoya sighed heavily. "Apparently, the barrier around the place did something to her. Any time she tried to recall the place, she'd get these really bad headaches. Apparently Ariana knew how to find it again, but she never said. She disappeared one day, then eventually came back. When we asked where she'd gone, she'd just said she was 'dealing with the past'."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Levante nodded. "I'll go to talk to Vargus about it as well, doesn't hurt to have more set of eyes on this. I'm guessing the barrier was some kind of strange powerful magic if it did that to Karin. I'll be back a bit later." And with that the powerful vampire stepped into the shadow of the corner, and vanished.

Samantha didn't really have anything to say, so thinking she simply began to eat.

Tomoya nodded a bit. "Overlord Zenon. Has a daughter named Rozalin. He's going to die fighting this evil spirit... thing. It's inside Rozalin, and it acts up when she's eight. He manages to weaken it so it can be better sealed, but it kills him in the process. I want to prevent that. The part where he dies, I mean; not the part of it being sealed."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Gareth thought about it. "..We'll, Vargus is very damned good with seals. So we would have to see about talking to him about it. I'm guessing Rozalin isn't born yet so it can wait until she is before we do anything." "Rozalin." Samantha seemed to be thinking. "She's another friend of yours I take it? It's..kind of strange how many powerful and influential people come into your circle. What is she like?" She asked for two reasons. One, she was curious, two she wanted to be slightly distracted from worrying too much about a few things on her mind.

Tomoya thought about that for a moment. "Hm... well, she's a good person, but she could be kind of... well, a snob. SHe was raised to be royalty, after all, and losing her dad didn't make her the nicest of people. She mellowed out really fast though. Just needed some good friends, I think."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

"I could see about looking for this 'Zenon' then. If he's a powerful Overlord there has to be something about them." Gareth then added. "Do you know the world where Rozalin comes from? That solves that issue at least."

Tomoya finished eating, and sat up. "Well, a couple things to change. THe 'me' of this realm will be born next year, and 'my' mother will die in a car wreck when 'I' am seven. I want to change that. My friend Kotomi will lose her parents in a plane crash shortly before that. Again, I want to change that. And when Karin is 23, and Ignis 26, Vargus will be killed by a demon named Xavier. Gotta stop that too."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara